I have been exceedingly lucky in my trips down to the state of Iowa so far this year. Two weeks ago I was fortunate enough to see three straight nights of Frostbuster action that were excellent in all regards and now again this week, between Inde on Saturday and Benton County on this night, I was again able to see some excellent short track action with good fields of cars, top notch game management by the promoters and track workers and a whole host of thrilling racing events.
Sunday night, April 21st was the season opener for the Benton County Speedway "Bullring" after their Frostbuster event got cancelled by the weather. Six classes of cars would be racing on this night including the PRO Late Models. And how often is it that the Late Models produce the largest field of the night but that would be the case on Sunday as a fine field of twenty two of them signed in to race. The field of cars was almost perfect in size, providing full fields for racing but not so many that any B Features would be required, a no- no for Sunday night racing when program length is important. One hundred and nine cars did sign in to race on Sunday.
And early in the season, Benton County starts their programs earlier to beat the cold and get the kidlets home early for school on Monday morning with hot laps at 4:30 pm with racing to follow. For someone with a five plus hour drive home, there is no such thing on a Sunday as starting too early. The one down side for such an early start is what the sun and wind might do for track conditions but that certainly wasn't an issue for this opener. The track was great with racing from top to bottom despite the sun bearing down on the track and the wind whipping. And there was no dust either.
Specialty Racing Promotions(Rick and Corey Dripps) are in their fourth year of promoting the "Bullring" and things seem to be getting better and better each year for them. I took a few minutes before the show started to talk with Corey and get some more information on the PRO Late Model series. Rick was managing much of the pre race action on this night since Corey was taking advantage of the opportunity to race his Late Model at his home track. He runs the Late Models now instead of the Mods since he has had shoulder issues, saying that the Modifieds just beat him up while the Late Model type car is so much easier to drive. Mechanical issues would drastically shorten his night Sunday.
Many familiar faces in the crowd here on Sunday. Positively Racing was well represented with both Jeff and Danny in the crowd so we have coverage of this race surrounded. Crack announcer Jerry Mackey was spotted enjoying the action and good to see him out after his heart scare last Winter. Speaking of announcers, the duo of Ryan Clark and Jerry VanSickel were calling the action and the more I hear them, the more I think that there can't be a better duo working racing anywhere in the Midwest. They play off each other so well and while they keep us entertained, they also provide all the information that we need and deserve to know. And somehow Ryan manages to keep JVAN under control for the most part.
Since we have such extensive coverage of this event, I think it not necessary to give a blow by blow account of what happened in each and every race. I'll cover the highlights and leave it at that. Do know that most of the feature races came right down to the wire and at least two of them were not settled until the final lap. It was almost hard to keep track of the action as it was so hot and heavy with so many great battles on the track.
I declare that the Stock Car feature was the best race of the night but that would be a close call with some others nearly as exciting. But this race was a dandy and was only stopped once for a yellow flag. Gage Neal was the early leader and put some distance on Dustin Griffiths but as the laps rolled by, Neal got looser and looser with Griffiths finally ducking inside him. Meanwhile, John Oliver Jr and Kaden Reynolds had caught up and suddenly it was a three car duel for the lead.
It would be heart break for Griffiths when he broke while leading on lap fifteen and Oliver Jr inherited the lead. But he had Reynolds all over him and then they were joined by Kyle Olson who had started tenth. They battled right down to the wire when Reynolds made a great move off the final corner, shot low and slipped under Oliver Jr to take the thrilling win. Interestingly, Reynolds made exactly the same move in a heat race with the same result.
The Hobby Stock feature also saw a last lap pass for the win. The two most successful Hobby drivers so far this year, Bradly Graham and Nathan Ballard would lock up in an epic fight for the win. Graham would take the lead on lap two from Joren Fisher and then lead the rest of the way, that is until the final lap when Ballard, who started ninth , would catch him.
They would race side by side down the back chute where Ballard would out break Graham to slip into the lead and then hold him off to take the win.
The Late Model feature would get bogged down a bit by yellow flags(six in all), but the race would still provide a close finish. Jeff Aikey would start on the pole and when given that opportunity, he generally doesn't yield to anyone. He would lead the first twenty one laps of the race but his constant challenger would be Dylan Thornton. Looking for a weekend sweep, Thornton was all over Aikey, looking to his inside on nearly every corner and several times the two ran breath takingly close together. This continued through four yellows for spins.
Finally, Thornton got a good run down the back chute and slid up in front of Aikey to take over the lead, a move that was a tight one and not appreciated by Aikey when the yellow would fly one more time. However, Thornton was able to get away clean on the final green and not give Aikey any shot, as Jeff slid a bit high and opened the door to a strong running J. D. Auringer who would go on to hold off Aikey for second as Thornton pulled off the weekend double.
Troy Cordes, who has been running strong this early season, would take the early lead in the Modified feature. However, Dallon Murty would discover the high side to be working for him and he flew up from a sixth starting spot to motor by Cordes on lap five and after that, it was try and catch the flying #99x. Tim Ward would get to the second spot at the halfway mark but despite pushing hard, he wasn't able to flag down Murty.
Several times in the second half of the race, Ward would get close but each time Murty would power away as he drove on for the win. Cordes would settle for third.
Shane Paris would start on the pole for the Sport Mod feature and he would use that nice redraw to lead all fifteen laps and collect the biggest pay check. He was fast indeed and there would be no one to challenge him despite a late yellow. The best battle for position would see the Olson's battling for a spot and also the Hillmer's. At the finish, it would be Tony over Kyle with Brady Hillmer settling for fourth.
After a grinding first lap collision stopped the Sport Compact feature, the race would then go green to checkers with Jake Anderson leading the first four laps before Lukas Rick would sneak inside Anderson and take over the lead. They would then run in this fashion the rest of the event with Rick driving on for the win with just about everyone hugging the inside line. Christian Grady would settle for third.
I was in my vehicle and driving out of the parking lot by 8:30 pm, perfect for such a Sunday night show. I even got to thank Rick Dripps one more time as ala Randy Queensland at Deer Creek Speedway, Rick was standing at the bottom of the grandstand, thanking folks for coming. A nice touch.
This was a good, entertaining show from start to finish. Too bad that it's not exactly in my back yard but I would highly recommend it to any race fan looking for some Sunday night action. Thanks to the Dripps' and to all the track workers for their efforts.
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